Category Archives: Transhuman News

The Sun

Human Ken Doll Rodrigo Alves is 'waiting for his new chin to arrive in the post' ahead of 35k surgery binge The Sun THE HUMAN Ken Doll's new chin is in the post - and the Brazilian reality star can't wait to unpack it and get it under his skin. The 34-year-old star - real name Rodrigo Alves - revealed he is waiting for the odd delivery at a hotel in Kish, Iran ... and more »

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Human Ken Doll Rodrigo Alves is 'waiting for his new chin to arrive in the post' ahead of 35k surgery binge - The Sun

SAN ANTONIO Investigators believe a truck driver accused in the deaths of 10 people found inside a packed, sweltering tractor-trailer is part of a larger organization involved in human smuggling that authorities are trying to identify and dismantle, a U.S. immigration official said.

Some of the 29 identified survivors told authorities they hired smugglers who brought them across the U.S. border, loaded them onto trucks that took them to the tractor-trailer, and marked them with different colored tape to identify them to various smugglers who would be picking them up after the tractor-trailer reached its destination.

Were certainly not stopping at looking at the driver. Were trying to investigate and identify the different cogs, the stash houses, the other members, where the money came from, Shane Folden, special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements Homeland Security Investigations office in San Antonio, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The driver, James Matthew Bradley Jr., 60, of Clearwater, Florida, is facing charges of illegally transporting immigrants for financial gain, resulting in death. Bradley could face the death penalty if convicted. Authorities allege he drove a trailer full of immigrants from South Texas that was discovered in the parking lot of a Walmart in San Antonio early Sunday morning.

Folden said charging Bradley is just the first step in the case as investigators work to find others involved in the scheme, including those responsible for facilitating money transfers and bringing the immigrants across the border.

The ultimate goal is to dismantle the complete organization. You dont get there by only focusing on one aspect. You have to look at potential targets and potential related locations, both north and south, he said.

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar from Texas said he was informed by law enforcement that the tractor-trailer cleared a Border Patrol checkpoint Saturday night, about two hours before it was discovered, roughly 29 miles (47 kilometers) north of the border on Interstate 35 near Laredo. Cuellar said he didnt know whether the immigrants were loaded into the truck before or after it crossed the checkpoint.

U.S. authorities are still trying to determine how many people were inside the tractor-trailer because some fled before police arrived, Folden said.

Thirteen people who rode in the trailer remained hospitalized Tuesday in San Antonio, said ICE spokesman Greg Palmore. He declined to say how many were critical or in life-threatening condition. Officials said at least 29 people survived the smuggling attempt.

Delmin Daro Lpez Colomo, 23, a Guatemalan survivor who remained hospitalized, said the migrants in the tractor-trailer were delivered by various different smugglers, according to Cristy Andrino, the consul of Guatemala in McAllen, Texas.

Adan Lara Vega, 27, a migrant from Mexico who survived the smuggling attempt, told the AP on Monday that they boarded the truck on a Laredo street Saturday night for the two-hour trip to San Antonio. He said the trailer was already full of people, but it was so dark he couldnt tell how many.

At least some of the survivors are likely to become witnesses and receive consideration to remain in the United States to testify, Folden said.

Its likely that most if not all of the survivors will be allowed to stay in the country to help authorities in their investigation, said Jeff Vaden, a former federal prosecutor who helped oversee the prosecution of a 2003 smuggling attempt in Victoria, Texas, in which 19 people died.

Vaden said many of the more than 50 immigrants who survived that attempt were able to identify the people who harbored them or transported them or to whom they paid or spoke. Thats what enabled the government to put together the larger smuggling case above just the driver. Just like in any crime, the victims are critical witnesses. Vaden is now a partner at the Houston law firm of Bracewell LLP.

Jacob Monty, an immigration lawyer in Houston, said the help survivors give to authorities could lead to permanent residency.

Bradley, the driver of the truck found in San Antonio, remained jailed Tuesday. He had his commercial driving privileges for a truck driver suspended by Florida three months before Sundays deadly smuggling attempt, officials said Tuesday.

Court records show Bradley had been repeatedly cited for violating federal motor carrier safety regulations in Iowa dating back to 1995. At least two of the tickets were for logging more hours than allowed.

Federal regulators said they are also conducting an investigation into an Iowa trucking company whose name was on the trailer. Brian Pyle, owner of Pyle Transportation, said the trailer had been sold on May 10 to an individual in Mexico, and Bradley was working as an independent contractor to drive it to Brownsville, Texas, to carry out the sale.

Its unclear what will happen to one of the migrants who died, identified as 19-year-old Frank Guisseppe Fuentes. His parents, who live in Maryland and are in the U.S. illegally, havent yet told Guatemalan officials what they want done with his body. Andrino, the Guatemalan consul, said they may fear agents could come after them if they claim their son.

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Investigator: Driver part of larger human-smuggling scheme - The Denver Post

A doctor has warned that rapidly declining sperm counts could result in humans becoming extinct.

Dr Hagai Levine led a team of researchers who analysed the sperm counts of men from North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.Results showed they halved between 1973 and 2011.

Dr Levine told the BBC: If we will not change the ways that we are living and the environment and the chemicals that we are exposed to, I am very worried about what will happen in the future.

Eventually we may have a problem, and with reproduction in general, and it may be the extinction of the human species.

Dr_Microbe via Getty Images

The study suggested the rate of decline in sperm counts among men living in Western countries is continuing and possibly even increasing.Meanwhile, there was no significant decline in South America, Asia and Africa.

Having a low sperm count can make it more difficult to conceive naturally, although successful pregnancies can still occur.

Some experts were critical of the new studys findings, noting various flaws, and added it may be too soon to draw such conclusions about human extinction.

But writing in the journalHuman Reproduction Update, the studys authors said further research is urgently needed to get to the bottom of why mens sperm counts are declining so much.

According to the NHS, problems with sperm, including a low sperm count and problems with sperm quality, are quite common in the UK - affecting one in three couples who are struggling to get pregnant.

The studys authors linked a range of lifestyle and environmental factors to the problem including:endocrine disrupting chemicals, pesticides, diet, stress, smoking and obesity.

Dr Helen Webberley, who runs the online healthcare serviceMy Web Doctor, said the results of the research were alarming but added there are various lifestyle changes men can make to improve sperm health.

Few of these will come as much of a surprise: maintaining a healthy diet, limiting alcohol consumption, stopping smoking and taking regular exercise, she told HuffPost UK.

Having a clear overview of your reproductive health can be useful and relevant tests - such as testosterone levels and knowing your sperm count - can provide a clearer indication of the situation.

She added:The environmental factors are worrying and feel a little out of our control, so more research in this area would be good. There are new studies ongoing into whether anti-oestrogen medications that we use in the treatment of female breast cancer, or even the female fertility drug, Clomid, can help when used in male patients - and we have seen some encouraging results.

Having said that, prevention is always better than cure and we, as a nation, need to accept that we can have a positive impact on our reproductive health by adjusting our lifestyle.

Professor Geeta Nargund, medical director ofCREATE Fertility,said more needs to be done to educate men and boys about their fertility.

The findings of this study are extremely important and raise public health concerns when it comes to male fertility, she told HuffPost UK.

It is about time that we start educating boys and men about the effects of smoking, obesity, exposure to pesticides and plastics, and sedentary lifestyle on their reproductive health.

We also need to address the possible effects of maternal smoking and exposure to hormones in pregnancy, during a critical window of foetal testicular development.

I urge the Department of Education to include fertility education as part of the curriculum in secondary schools, as it can help raise awareness and prevent future infertility.

10 Things You May Not Know About Your Fertility

1. Your fertility is mostly determined by genetics, which influences how many eggs you are born with. Doctors believe that the number of eggs you have at birth determines the length of time you will remain fertile. At birth, women have about two million eggs in their ovaries. For every egg ovulated during your reproductive life, about 1,000 eggs undergo programmed cell death. Other things, such as smoking cigarettes and certain types of chemotherapy, can accelerate egg cell death and promote an earlier menopause.

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Plummeting Sperm Counts Could Result In Human Extinction, Doctor Warns - HuffPost UK